EBay eyes use of Bitcoins in online commerce

Under efforts to expand its PayPal payment system, eBay was also watching Bitcoins, the e-commerce platform's Chief Executive John Donahoe told British business daily Financial Times.

In an interview published Monday, Donahoe described digital currencies generally as a very powerful thing in future. Initially, however, eBay was focusing on incorporating reward points from retailers' loyalty schemes into its PayPal wallet, he noted.

'There is a limit to how many cards you will carry, or remembering what points you have or don't. But in a digital wallet, you can put 50 different loyalty cards,' Donahoe said.

The very same technology could accept digital currencies such as Bitcoins, he added.

Bitcoins, which started circulating in 2009, are a form ofelectronic moneythat is independent of the traditional banking system and central bank oversight. In recent years, Bitcoin has garnered attention from venture capital firms and investors who believe the virtual currency could become the future of online payments. However, Bitcoin has also gained a reputation for facilitating drug deals and money laundering.

Nevertheless, earlier this year Germany became the first country in the world to accept Bitcoin as a private currency, and last week the first Bitcoin ATM was inaugurated in Vancouver, Canada.

EBay has in recent years sought to bring more large retailers on to its e-commerce platform, which started as an auction side for small traders. Therefore, the firm has formed partnerships with loyalty programs, allowing customers to collect points when they spend their money through eBay.

The platform's efforts may raise the possibility that virtual currencies such as Bitcoin may one day move beyond the niche role they currently have.

Strike hits Amazon logistics centers in Germany

Amazon's logistics centers in Leipzig and Bad Hersfeld, both in eastern Germany, were hit by one-day industrial action in which some 200 and 300 workers respectively walked out, German labor union Verdi said Monday.

The strike comes with the demand of a collective bargaining agreement including higher wages and better working conditions for Amazon employees, the union said. Verdi wanted Amazon staff paid according to a wage deal for the German mail order and retail sector, which was better than for the logistics sector currently in place at Amazon, it added.

Amazon has repeatedly rejected the demand arguing its staff at the Bad Hersfeld and Leipzig logistics centers received pay which was above average by the standards of the industry. Moreover, the Verdi labor union wasn't Amazon's partner in collective bargaining because wages were primarily negotiated with the firm's works council, said Amazon's German logistics chief Dave Clark.

'We will not be blackmailed in to cooperating with an organization that threatens to ruin Christmas for German children,' he told Monday's edition of German newspaper Die Welt.

Amazon employs around 9,000 workers in Germany, which has come to be the online retailer's biggest market outside the United States. Sales in Germany grew almost 21 percent in 2012, reaching $8.7 billion (6.4 billion euro).

Verdi's strike action on Monday, which followed brief walkouts in May, June and September, have had no impact on shipments, Amazon spokesman Stefan Rupp told Reuters news agency.

French carmaker Peugeot’s shares soar on Iran deal

Shares in ailing French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen rose by up to five percent in early Monday trading, with the CAC-40 in Paris up only below 0.5 percent.

The stock jump came after the breakthrough in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, with the deal promising eased sanctions and with it greater export opportunities for PSA.

Peugeot cars are ubiquitous on roads in Tehran and the rest of the country, with the French auto maker having had extensive trade ties with Iran before international economic sanctions went into force.

Seeking fresh capital

But the Iran deal was not the only reason for the rise in shares. According to the French daily 'Le Monde', former Renault number two, Carlos Tavares, will be hired as head or co-head of PSA as of next year, supporting or replacing current chief Philippe Varin.

Talk of Tavares landing at Peugeot came amid reports the company was still in negotiations with Chinese carmaker Dongfeng about a potential capital injection.

PSA had reported falling sales for the third quarter as it continued to be in the throes of a radical restructuring, involving job cuts and the closure of a large factory.

Pope slams economic ‘tyranny,’ urges mercy for poor

Eight months after being elected as the Roman Catholic Church's new head, Pope Francis on Tuesday issued his first major document authored alone by denouncing global economic 'tyranny' and calling for humane renewal from a church more governed through decentralism.

'I prefer a church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security,' the pontiff wrote in his 84-page manifesto, entitled Evangelii Gaudium.

The phase 'thou shalt not' was also applicable in a modern world of growing unequality and 'relentless' economic practices, he said. 'Such an economy kills.'

Themes collated

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Francis wrote the bulk of the document in August. The 'apostolic exhortation' bundles many of the themes the Argentine-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio has raised since his papal election in March.

This time, Francis goes further in his criticism of the global economic system by urging politicians to 'attack the structural causes of inequality' and strive to provide work, healthcare and education to all.

'How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses 2 points?,' the pontiff asked

He said there would be 'no solution' to world ills until 'the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality.'

Collision course

Catholic reform expert and Italian theologian Massimo Faggioli said the 'message sets Pope Francis on a collision course with neo-liberal Catholic thought, especially in the United States.'

Francis, who has shunned pomp, initiated reform of the Vatican bank, and lives simply in a Rome guest house, said he wanted to move beyond a church 'turned into a museum piece' belonging to a 'select few' and avoid disjointed moral doctrines. Mercy was paramount, he said, and what counted was a church that welcomed the faithful.

Cooperation among religions

Francis also stressed cooperation among religions, quoting the late Pope John Paul II's idea of closer ties with other Christian churches and consultations with Jews and Muslims.

He said he 'humbly' asked Islamic countries 'to grant Christians freedom to worship and to practice their faith.'

Francis restated the Vatican's opposition to abortion, but added that the church had 'done little' to support women 'in very difficult situations.'

More scope for women?

In a potential hint at reform in the Vatican's male-dominated world, Pope Francis called for a 'more incisive female presence in the Church,' especially 'where important decisions are made.'

Tuesday's publication is the second major work issued during Pope Francis' term. July's encyclical The Light of Faith was however written almost entirely by his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

EU executive cracks down on multinational shrimp cartel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's campaign promise of no new and higher taxes to fund costly campaign promises was central to the coalition talks between her conservative CDU/CSU alliance and the Social Democrats.

As Merkel was able to keep her promise, the two parties, in addition, agreed to stop fresh borrowing to fund government expenditure from 2015. Moreover, cuts to state subsidies for renewable energies - a key conservative demand – were agreed under efforts to rein in runaway electricity prices in Germany.

Controversial minimum wage

More controversial, however, is the introduction of a nationwide minimum wage of 8.50 euros ($11.55) per hour from 2015. Describing the policy as detrimental to the German labor market, Berenberg Bank analyst Christian Schulz said it would also undermine German demands for labor market reforms in the crisis-hit eurozone countries.

'It may not hurt the current economic upswing in Germany, but it will surely hit employment in the next downturn,' he told Reuters news agency.

Gustav Horn, director of economic think tank IMK, said he was more optimistic because a minimum wage would boost domestic consumption. He told Reuters that the move was long overdue and would also lower the risk of old age poverty.

Pension change impact

Part of the coalition treaty was also changes to the German statutory pensions system. The two sides agreed on a minimum pension for people with low incomes, as well as higher pensions for mothers with children born before 1992.

The extra spending would lead to higher social security premiums paid on wages, said Jörg Kramer, Chief Economist with Commerzbank.

'This will have negative effects on business conditions in Germany over the longer term. But it might not hurt German economic growth in the short run which will be higher than in the rest of the eurozone,' he told Reuters.

On balance, German economic experts agreed that the most important news coming out of the the coalition talks had been that Germany would soon have a stable government. Only a few noted that the agreement was still subject to a vote by Social Democrat party members in early December.

David and Victoria Beckham buy west London home for $65 million

A-list celebrity couple David and Victoria bought a palatial home in west London for $65 million and spends another $8 million for its renovation.

The former football superstar, together with his Spice Girl wife and four children will move into the new home at the end of the year after selling their Beckingham Palace in Hertfordshire, England for $20 million.  Their former home is a 12-acre estate bought by the couple for $4 million after their wedding in 1999.

Described as a “project”, the four-story house has seven bedrooms, five bathrooms, two rooms designed for Victoria’s shoes, underground garage for David’s car collection, a tunnel for security and staff, a room for The Posh’s latest wardrobe collection and additional rooms for hairdressing, manicures and make-ups.

There is an installed sound system in every room controlled by a phone or computer plus a plan of adding waterproof plasma televisions in every bathroom.

David and Victoria will stay on the top floor while their kids Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper will occupy the second room.

The third room will be for guest rooms and the lower ground floor will host the study room, three service rooms, massage room, gym and a small garden.

The family also owns a holiday home in South France plus two more homes in California and Dubai.

‘Idiots, not terrorists’ cleared of endangering PIA plane

LONDON: Two men were cleared Thursday of endangering a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane after a British court heard that they were "idiots, not terrorists".

Mohammed Safdar, 42, and his friend Tayyab Subhani, 30, were arrested in May after their flight from Lahore to Manchester in northwest England had to make an emergency diversion to London’s Stansted Airport.

Britain scrambled Typhoon fighter jets to intercept the flight.

It had been claimed that Safdar, supported by Subhani, made threats to blow up the plane and kill its crew and passengers after an argument broke out with air stewards 30,000 feet (9,100 metres) above ground.

But the judge instructed the jury to find the pair not guilty after concluding that the case against them was "tenuous and peppered with inconsistencies".

"Under the circumstances no jury can properly convict these men," judge Charles Gratwicke told Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex, just outside London.

A series of witnesses had told the court that although the men acted like "idiots", they had not made serious threats to blow up the plane.

Captain Nadeem Sufi originally alerted authorities to the scare, but told the court that once the severity of the diversion operation became clear he had tried to reverse the decision by telling air traffic control that the men were "laughing and joking".

Safdar and Subhani, who are from Lancashire in northwest England, had been returning from Safdar’s mother’s funeral in Pakistan.

Prosecutors had stressed that the pair were not extremists or "terrorists," but that the crew was forced to take the threats seriously.

Once on the ground, the plane was surrounded by armed police under a full-scale bomb alert. (AFP